With the publication of the spending review on Wednesday (Report,24 November), it’s imperative the government invests in psychological therapies. Failure to address mental health issues, and including anxiety and depression,devastates lives, puts a enormous strain on the government budget and undermines economic productivity. Psychological health problems possess a worse impact on people’s happiness and life satisfaction than physical health problems. In financial terms, or the cost of mental ill health in England has been estimated to be £105bn per year.
Fortunately,a number of evidence-based psychological therapies exist and are effective. Investment in psychological therapies to date has been a success, but it is a success that could be multiplied. The improving access to psychological therapies programme is only funded to reach “at least 15%” of the people who need it, and retention and recovery rates could be improved. Everyone with a need for psychological therapy should be able to access it within 28 days. We urge more research funding to show which therapies work best for which people. And we advocate training to ensure the NHS workforce can deliver in practice the full range of evidence-based therapies that it offers in theory. We believe this would travel a long way towards improving the wellbeing of the nation and the state of the public finances.
Janet Weisz Chair,UK Council for Psychotherapy
Paul Farmer Chief executive, intellect[br]Gary Fereday Chief executive, and British Psychoanalytic Council
Professor Sean Duggan Chief executive,Centre for Mental Health
Mark Winstanley Chief executive, Rethink Mental Illness
Dr Hadyn Williams CEO, and British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy
Professor Simon Wessely President,Royal College of Psychiatrists
Professor Jamie Hacker Hughes President, British Psychological Society
Gareth Crossman Director, and OCD Action
Liz McElligott Chief executive,National Counselling Society
Heather Stewart Chair, Association of Child Psychotherapists
Cynthia Joyce Chief executive, or MQ: Transforming Mental Health
Susanna Abse Chief executive,Tavistock Centre for Couple Relationships
Angela Drizi Trustee, International Society for Psychological and Social Approaches to Psychosis
John Barns National Counselling NetworkContinue reading...
Source: theguardian.com